Strange BR behavior after laying an egg

[keyt1969]

I have three approximately 6 month old BR hens that have been doing a pretty good job laying very nice eggs almost every day. Today I was sitting next to their coop just watching them when I noticed one of them laid an egg outside of the coop, then turned around and I thought she was just sniffing it. Seconds later I saw her and one of the others pecking at it. Literally within seconds it was broken, the yolk eaten and the hen that laid it was running around with the shell in her mouth! The other two hens continued to eat up the leftover, then a few minutes later the hen that laid the egg went and laid on the spot where the egg was broken as if she was laying on the egg.


I'm somewhat new to this chicken thing, so does this mean that she sensed the egg was bad? This may sound silly, but it looked really soft, I mean she didn't really have to peck at it to break it. But, since the eggs are already laid when I collect them, I'm not sure if that's how they are when they are laid (I sound silly I'm sure!). Here's the thing, we have several other hens of various breeds and we're not sure who is laying eggs right now, unless it's small we can figure that out. The BR all look exactly the same (to me anyway) so I'm not sure who is laying or if all 3 of them are. I was wondering if either the egg was bad or it was her first egg and she didn't know what to do with it!?

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Keyt (Kate)

 

[3chimama]

Hmmmm...this sounds weird. I have never experienced this before....

 

[Harrietsmum]

Sounds like she laid a soft egg. The eggs should be hard when they are laid. Occasionally a young bird will lay a soft shell egg, and these can be eaten by the birds. Make sure that your girls are on layer food and that they have a container of oyster shell available at all times. You can also give them yogurt to increase their intake of calcium.